Before Dealing with how to make your own logo design, lets ask if you really need a logo for your website?

, especially if you are operating any kind ofhome business. The logo is part of your brand, a recognisable symbol that will help imprint your business into the minds of your customers and potential customers.

You will see logos every day, for companies as wide-ranging as Apple and Nike, and without seeing the name of the company, you will automatically know who that logo relates to. This is very clever marketing, and something you need to take care over when designing your own.

For starters, you may need to brush up on your design skills.Local adobe illustrator coursesare a great way to learn a few graphic design skills, negating the need to spend money on hiring a professional logo designer to do the job for you. You can check colleges near you for available courses. This will add to your skill base too and can help you to make your website even more effective. If its your thing maybe you could hire out your services on places like Fiverr which is where I found my logo designer. You can read more about that by clicking here.

Alternatively, online tools, such asLogomaker, will give you the capacity to form an effective-looking logo within minutes. I also make good use of Canva, a free online app. Whatever route you go down, assuming you dont decide to hand over the job to somebody else, there are some basic principles you should follow as you design your logo.

You dont need something intricate; youre not creating an elaborate work of art, so produce something relatively simple. It needs to be identifiable with your brand, so think of an image that makes some kind of sense to what it is you do. It doesnt have to be overly-obvious, but it shouldnt be too abstract, either.Nikes swoosh logo, for example, is a simple design to represent speed, and is more effective than an obvious and boring image of a pair of trainers. Something simple is more memorable than an over complicated design, and is also less-demanding on the customers eye.

My own logo of the orange Gerbera may well be too abstract for a website about building websites but when I post to social media that flower is quite distinctive and the colour stands out. With time that logo should become associated with me and my websites.

You dont want to be accused of plagiarism, so try to be original in what you produce. Admittedly, this is easier said than done, but you do need to create something that wont be associated with another company. Not only will you have to deal with the legal implications if you do, but you will also reduce the effectiveness of your brand should your image be confused with somebody elses.

A big mistake people make is seeing something from someone you admire and then try to emulate it in some way. I have seen this first hand withinWealthy Affiliate,the hosting and training platform that I belong to. In the training the owner Kyle uses two different websites as a way of training people to do certain things on their website. Usually in his video trainings. I have seen several sites where the design is almost identical to his. Not great for him but worse for those copying him because his websites are more established and effective than theirs.

The colour needs to be associated with your brand, so consider the message you are trying to convey to your market audience. If you are appealing to the youth market, then bright and vibrant colors are a must. Alternatively, if you are trying to reach an older demographic, it may be wise to use more muted colors.

Care needs to be taken, as a simple brush stroke can give the wrong message, and can alienate the people you are trying to reach. A site such asLogastercan help you with your color palette. Make sure to read their valuable advice when it comes to designing your logo.

The image you create will convey a message, but notice how many companies also rely on wording to strengthen the logo.

My own full logo which you will see at the top of the post has the words With Grace and Gratitude, this is my sign off and is associated with all of my business websites.

The right font can make all the difference, but its difficult, considering the thousands that are available to you. You can findfont adviceonline, but you should also experiment yourself, playing around with different typefaces until you find something that looks good when displayed against your image.

In closing, I recommend you go off and look at other companies logos for inspiration. Not as a means of plagiarising, but rather to get examples of how these companies convey their message through the symbols, colors, and fonts they have used.

How successful have they been? How memorable are they? Learn from both the good and the bad as you create something for your website, blog or business.

I hope you have found this post useful and if you have please share it on your favourite social media platform and help get that Orange Gerbera out there!

As ever If you have any questions or if you want to tell me your thoughts on my own logo please leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Im happy to learn along with you so if you think my logo is rubbish, please say so!

Candy melts are essential when it comes to cookie and cake pop decorating. Here is how you can make your own candy melts to use for cake decorating or as an edible gift.

Until I was 9 years old I grew up in a place where things were not readily available. In East Germany one could not just go to the store to buy stuff. Sure, they had the very basics like milk, butter, bread, apples, cabbage but forget about more fancy things like chocolate, coffee, tea, bananas, oranges. Those things meant standing in line for hours, if they were available at all. It was the same with non food items. Around Christmas time my sisters and my toys kept disappearing and our parents would rework and re-gift them to us on Christmas I will never forget the joy I felt when I saw the dollhouse my dad made from our old 2 bedroom doll house. He remodeled it into a 2 story mansion with a bathroom, working lights and windows. It is safe to say I have DIY in my DNA. Yes, its contagious, watch out!

Anyway, sorry for this long excursion, but I wanted to share where my drive for do-it-yourself stems from. This will also explain why I bothered making my own candy melts when I could just order them online. Candy melts are not widely available in Germany. If you want to get them here, you have order from specialty stores and usually there are some hefty shipping costs involved. If I were to just order one bag of candy melts (ca. 370g) Id end up paying 5 Euro for the candy and about 4 Euro for shipping, 9 Euro a pop. You know I make cake pops way too often to pay that price (yet not often enough to get wholesale discounts though I dream of it regularly I have no place to store 10 kg of candy melts and really I should never be alone with that much chocolate.) So I started tinkering around and made my own candy melts. I have used them for myteal cake pops.

1. Break the chocolate into its pieces. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave (I needed ca. 1 minute for 200 g of broken down white chocolate). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Add food color until you have the desired shade.A note about color:because white chocolate is not white, but really more yellow consider that in your color choices. It is easy to make teal and green tones that already have a hint of yellow in it. I tried purple and it turned out very dark because I needed a lot of food color to get out of the brown phase. Next time I will try to make pink ones.

3. Fill the colored chocolate into a one way piping bag. Once all the chocolate is filled in completely, cut the tip to make a small opening.

4. Start piping little dollops onto the parchment paper.

5. Wait until completely dry before moving them into an air tight container or gift bag.

For the total cost of 1,50 Euro for 200g I am very happy with the result. I manually stirred in the food color, so it is not 100% evenly spread out, and the result are some small specks where the color didnt distribute evenly, but that is minimal in the grand scheme of things 🙂

Ok, now give this a try, maybe make some pink ones and tell me how they turn out. Or stick around and join me at marveling over how pretty they look. 😉

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Dani is an enthusiastic rookie chef, baker and mom. At &cute she combines her cravings for tasty and cute food, with her passion for design. Dani currently lives in Germany and is married to her former GI Joe.More about Dani

I have never ever heard about candy melts until today! Thanks for explaining and your wonderful step-by-step tutorial. Like you I am born and raised in East Germany and DIY-Addiction is something we got with our mothers milk (is there a better translation? please let me know ;-)). I love the shape of the candy melts and how can one resist not to try to make them a pretty easter decoration as well!

They are cute, arent they?! I like the chip shape too, makes it so much easier melting them 🙂 Cant wait to see what your look like, my fellow Ossi Kind haha.

İ ve heard that chocolate is heavier than Candy melts. Does it matter?

I heard candy melts are like cooking chocolate and has vegetable oil in. Im from UK and never heard of them till I found a recipe that used them Blueberry and lemon truffles Still researching 🙂

O wow Dani, you are so creative to make these yourself!! Im impressed I didnt know they were so hard to find in Germany. Not that they are everywhere here but I never thought about it since I get them for my job and never really buy them myself. But I actually like making them with white chocolate more then the ones you get pre-colored. The consistency is different, which makes me like the chocolate ones better!

You are so right, I like that fact that we can choose the quality of chocolate and so guide flavor and consistency, its a bit more freedom 🙂

I was so excited to find this! I need red candy melts but the only ones I can find may contain traces of nuts and my 2 year old has a severe peanut allergy. We live in a pretty remote place and dont have access to any specialty stores. I did however find red food coloring gel and came home excited to try it.. But it didnt work!!!! Just like regular food coloring it didnt work. The gel made the white chocolate seize!!!!!! Am I missing something? Is your gel water or oil based???? Please help..

Hi Carey, so sorry to hear it didnt work out. My food color is water based (Betty Crocker Gel Colors). Try a different type of white chocolate and make sure you dont heat it too much that will also make it seize. I prefer the microwave compared to the bain marie method for melting the chocolate. You can also try to first mix the food color with a tsp of veggie oil and then mixing it in. I will experiment some more to see how to get to redor pink 🙂

I had the same sort of problem as Carey did 🙁

Since I didnt have plain chocolate but only couverture chocolate I used that to try making my very own chocolate melts. I used yellow food coloring as I have to make Manchaster United Cakepops.

But before I was able to stirr in the food coloring evenly, the chocolate mixture firmed up.

I wont give up though. Maybe it really is the quality of chocolate. Will have to try again and hopefully next time it works.

I envy you big time for your results 😉

I think couverture should work as well, try adding a tad of vegetable oil to the chocolate before you add the color and make sure you dont over heat the chocolate in the microwave 🙂

Will definitely try that. Dont think I overheated as I didnt use the microwave but melted the couverture over a pot of hot water (not even boiling)

Anyways, thanks for advice and I will report back if my candy melts turn out to be a success 🙂

when you are using chocolate you can not use normal food color that is in the grocery store because it is water based. You need gel based food coloring which is made with oil and not water. Chocolate and water dont go well and your chocolate may have seized (i think that is the right word).

That is true 🙂 However, the gel color I used I got from the supermarket (US) 🙂

Please do 🙂 ! When I used the water bath method I always got the condensation of the water to make the chocolate size, so I switched to the microwave method 🙂

OMG you are my favorite person right now. I cant find these where I live and this recipe saved my life. Thanks a lot.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I was lusting for Candy melts (almost impossible to find in Buenos Aires) and your recipe is so simple! Thank you again!

Hi! Water based or gel based food color will cause melted chocolates to seize. Use oil based food color or better yet oil based CHOCOLATE food colors to tint your white chocolate. 🙂

Can I use milkybar for white chocolate?

Hi! Would you know where I could get powder or oil-based coloring that wont cost a small fortune?? I live in New Zealand and candy melts and gel colors are very rare to find 🙁

Just found your blog, and am enjoying reading through! You are very creative!

Hi thanks, i will definitely try this, since candy melts arent readily available here and when you do find then, they are super expensive. thanks again and will let you know how they come out. I want to make some cake pops.

Thank you for this DIY,just asking could you use milk or dark chocolate if you plan on not using colour?

Yes, I have made them with milk chocolate/couverture before!

Thank you so much sweetie for this! I am just getting into baking goodies from scratch and this is very helpful! Question: How many chocolate melts were you able to make with this? I am wondering if it will be worth making my own. They sell them at this store called Michaels for $3.00 for .12oz bag of candy melts approximately 120 wafers. I think thats a bit pricey.

Hi Nataly, I am not sure how many this made, but around the content of a regular bag. If you can get them at Michaels for 3 bucks, I would go for that. But if you had to pay 13 like some of us not in the US, making your own is worth it I think 🙂

Is there a particular trick to tempering the chocolate? It might just be Australian heat and humidity, But the white chocolate wont set hard at all, Not even in the fridge, its still kinda pliable. Im in the same boat with candy melts costing an arm and a leg due to shipping.

You should use a thermometer to do that and get 2/3 of the chocolate up to 27-28 C and then cool it down with the rest of the chocolate added

Hi there, I dont know how old this post is but really need some advice. I live in the U.K. Candy melts are expencive here and I am wanting to make chocolate Lollies using Lolly moulds. I melted chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. I added food colouring, everything was fine I froze my chocolate for an hour and then put then put it in the fridge over night, the next day I went to put the chocolate into cellophane bags and it was tacky and slowly melting in my hands and went all over the cellophane bags making a mess. I wanted them hard and crisp and not where they would melt so easily. My question is if I make my own melts am I not still going to have that same issue? Im thinking Im going to have to make my own chocolate? And dreading it already. Any advice is much appreacited. Thank you!!

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tq for the tips. really appreciate it 🙂

Im from Malaysia. the candy melt here is so expensive.

Iiyana! Were on the same boaaat! Im from Indonesia and candy melts is very expensive here! Its about 36.000 Rupiah a bag. I dont know how much that in ringgits but it is expensive for me!

In englandc its equivalent to 90000 rupiah

Where do you get that chocalate you used

I got mine at Aldi here in Germany 🙂

thank you so much i thought when i used white chocolate that i was doing wrong but my only problem is the color shades i cant have a skyblue or any blue and i dont know how to solve this as i cant find any candy melts products here in egypt so please advise

Hi Samar, I am not quite sure, what color do you want to achieve?

Hello Dani, I was just wondering, if you want to make white candy melts, do you just use white chocolate?

Hi Emma, yes I would just omit the food color and use the chocolate as it, though it will have a bit of a yellow tint 🙂

So do I still have to wait for them to dry on the baking parchment, or can I use the chocolate straight away? Im trying to make cake pops 😀

Sorry about all this, but if you do know anything about cake pops do I have to use vanilla frosting to fix the cake crumbs together, or can I use something else?

You could use just cream cheese if you want it not too sweet 🙂

I am making cake pops for my daughters birthday this weekend and very excited about it!! I tried making them last night and had a problem with the stick staying in the cake pop 🙁 Is there a secret or best pratice you use?!?! Or any other tips would be helpful! Thanks for all your knowledge above as well!

Hi Sarah, the trick is to dip the stick in the chocolate first and then gently put the pop on, then let this dry and you are good to go for dipping the rest, I have written about it here (point 7): this helps 🙂

to make the stick stay on the cake pops, I usually bore a hole on the cake balls (about 5cm) using the stick itself, turning it several times in a cycling motion until I get the preferred hole size. It shouldnt be too wide (just a little wider than the diameter of your lollipop stick) but enough space to stuff some melted chocolates in it then insert the stick less than halfway thru the cake ball. Let it sit for at least one minute and the melted chocolate will start hardening up as it cools. The hardened chocolate stuffed inside of the cake ball holds the stick better compared to just dipping the stick and inserting it. Every time I finish a batch, I put them in the frigde to cool further and take them out to thaw when ready for coating with candy melts. Works well for mehope it does with yours.

What a great idea and a fantastic way of creating your own colors, especially the limited edition or hard to find colors =)

I live in middle east and like you, things are not readily available here. I wanted to purchuase candy melts but shipping was so much.

Hi, after reading all the posts and comments about white chocolate having a yellow tinge, i was wonderin if anyone had tried adding a little super white powder to the melted chocolate before colouring it or wouldnt it work?

Thank you for posting this!! Ill try to make it!!

OMG! Thank you so much!!!! now i can actually make cake pops!!!!!

Hi, i am making cakepops for a peanut allergy child. I need pink coating but can only use log house almond bark as it is the only peanut free option. I am wondering if i can use kool ade dry powder without sugar ( the small packs that are 10/$1) to tint my almond bark. I tried the gel but could only find wilton gel color and it failed miserably. Any ideas?

I havent tried working with KoolAid Powder or Almond Bark so I have no idea how the two will work together, but its worth a try. Give it a try in a small batch and see how it works. Id be happy if you shared the results 🙂

I need candy melts for modeling chocolate and I need to know if these will melt because they are not tempered.. :-\ Thnx 🙂

Most modeling chocolate recipes have you use real chocolate or white chocolate, add the color to the corn syrup or knead in the color after it sets. No need to make colored candy melts first. Check out . I have her book, and it works well.

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Hi Dani. Thanks for sharing your wonderful idea on how to make your own candy melt, ill try them as well, i remember the last time i did making dip was really frustating as all my chocolate got thicken, dont know why? 🙁

Hi Dani just found your site,Thanks for the recipe, saved me from sending for more expensive ones, doing some pops for a local fete, and didnt know what candy melts consisted of, I can make my own now , cheers.

can you use liguidy food colouring instead of gel

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The small specks are is actually fat bloom in the white chocolate. It happens when chocolate is not tempered. Go and check out more on tempering chocolate. Hoped this helped.

I really like those candy melts and you should also go and check out this site to

Will this recipe work for pipping shapes? I dont need food colouring so the white is perfect but thought Id ask

Hi Alison, I am not sure about shapes other than circles. Would also depend on the chocolate you begin with

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Yes can you mix it put it small ducks molds n let it dry i have a baby shower n its all about ducks which kind of white choc do i use never done this before

Is it compulsory to use a cookie and parchment sheet

Is it compulsory to use a cookie and parchment sheet

Hope I can get some expertise from you, I cant get any vanilla Candy melts for Valentines Day chocolate I am going to make. Just wondering if you have any advice to make the Candy Melts whiter using the white chocolate?

Hi, thanks for the recipe and the tutorial. I want to make cake pop, and im a bit lazy to make candy melt. BTW, im from Indonesia, and candy melt is not available here (and its my first time hear about candy melt). So can i just cut out my chocolate into small pieces and melt it, and use it to dip my cake pop? Or i should make candy melt?

What is the different between candy melt and chocolate?

What kind of gel food coloring did u use? I just mixed gel food coloring to my melted white choco (bar) for my cakepops but it turned out unusable. It seized

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[] How to make your own Candy Melts andcute Design Candy melts are essential when it comes to cookie and cake pop decorating. Here is how you can make your own candy melts to use for cake decorating or as an edible []

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Coloring pages and coloring books for grownups are seeing a surge in popularity right now. Adults are remembering again that its fun to color! And more than just being fun, it can be a low cost way to relax and get a little stress relief by creating beautiful designs and colorful pictures.

I joined in on the fad this week too when I wanted a little quiet time of stress relief by sitting down and doing some coloring. I dug my colored pencils out of storage and then started searching for some free printable coloring pages but instead ended up making my own!

Because thats what I do around here I make my own 🙂

I came across a site thats a free online tool that lets you create your own geometric designs to print off and color. When you choose their Design New option, you get to Add Shapes and Clone Shapes and start building your own designs. It takes a little bit of fiddling to figure out what to do, but once you get the hang of it, its kind of cool! Heres one of the designs I came up with and you can click this link if you would like to print it:The Make Your Own Zone Printable Coloring Design

The design seemed a little small to me when I first printed it off as it didnt fill up my entire sheet or printer paper BUT once I started coloring I decided it was in fact a very manageable size for coloring that let me finish my design in the amount of time I had available that day.

Another fun option off their main menu is the Color option that lets you choose from one of their premade designs and then virtually fill it in with color. A nice option if you dont have any markers, colored pencils, or crayons around. I played around with that for a while too and colored this pretty little design:

If youre not quite feeling up to the task of making your own designs , there are lots of ready-made adult coloring pages to print for free online as well. Heres a few sites to check out:

Coloring Pages For Lots of categories of pages to choose from and print.

Easy Peasy and Fun There are several free pages to print on this blog if you look around a bit. A few of my favorites are thepeacock, theflower swirl, and thedream catcher.

So give yourself the treat of a little quiet time enjoying the fun of patterns, designs, and colors. You might discover (as I usually do) that the time flies by!

You might also like to readMake Your Own Watercolor Paints another fun and relaxing way to play with color!

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Easy Yarn Craft: Mini Stocking Cap Ornament

Mini Knit Stocking Pattern for 2 needles

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Filed Under:CraftsTagged With:craftskids

Do you know of a place where you can convert an image into an adult coloring page?

Ive tried a few things to convert images to coloring pages, but havent yet found anything Im really happy with. One option thats not too bad is using the free photo editing site . Upload your photo, click on the photo effects icon on the top bar (it looks like a wand with stars). Once you are in the photo effects, choose the Pencil Sketch option. This will turn your photo into a format that looks like a black white pencil sketch, which could then be used like a coloring page.

Youre right! I thought it was fun to do the designing myself as well as the coloring.

The Make Your Own Zone is a participant in the Amazon LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to

My new plane with flight surfaces made from 9 foam plates. If it looks like aSierra Nevada Special, that is because that is what it is, but with three wing panels instead of two. Best way to get the span and dihedral without a complicated V bevel joint at the wing saddle.

The limitation was making parts from the 6 diameter flat disk in the center of the 9 foam plate. The foam wing panels are 3 1/16 x 5 3/16. Dihedral gore is 1/32 deep at 1 1/4 from leading edge. This produces 1 1/2 dihedral at the tip. Maximum camber is 1/4, also at 1 1/4, no incidence. Camber is formed by creasing along six lines spaced 1/4 apart. Tailplane is 5 3/4 span, 1 3/4 tip chord, 2 1/4 root chord. Fin is 2 3/8 span, 1 1/2 tip chord and 2 root chord, with creased 1/4 wide rudder panel. The 47.4 square inch wing area is asking for a 7 to 10 diameter prop. I used a 7 Peck-Polymers plastic prop, Midwest bearing and shaft. Standard right handed pigtail rear hook made from a straight pin. Stick is 1/8 x 1/4 x 16 with 1/8 square nose block. Tailplane taper is 3/16 in 2 1/4. It weighs 10.3 grams empty. Motor shown is a 14 loop of 1/8, which is good for test flights. This will get it up in the air and run out of turns high enough up that turning circle and descent rate can be checked. Some right thrust will be required under power, right rudder for right descent. Test flights will tell me what motor cross section to use when I go to a double length, thinner motor for maximum turns and longest flight.

This would be a good plane for the forthcomingFoam Plate Airplane Contest.

Snowflake got 2 minutes on its first outing. Like its namesake, it comes down slowly. Here is a 2 minute flight video:

There was frost on the ground. At first my fingers were burning from the cold, but they soon went numb. It was difficult to get the O-ring at the end of the tightly wound, lubricated rubber motor onto the wire hook without being able to feel anything. I lost it once, had to make up lost turns with finger turns. Two minutes is about the best I could get on this field. I might get a few more turns into the motor. It had few left when I picked it up. I put in 2,400 out of an estimated 2,690 maximum turns, 89%. I used a 22 1/4 loop of 0.045 x 0.086. If you dont want to strip rubber, stock 3/32 is the closest. That will get a good climb without having to wind to 90% of capacity. A longer motor might get more time.

The seagulls were on the ground. When they saw the plane going up, they made a run for the expected thermal. A bunch of them came right toward the plane when it turned into the group. They scattered to both sides. They continued searching for lift, flying around the plane, but eventually settled back to the ground. Ive had the same thing happen with hawks in another location.

There is no plan. It isnt necessary to have a plan, as everything is rectangular or trapezoidal. All the necessary dimensions are given above. Anyone who is in a hurry can build one from that information. The build is essentially similar to the Sierra Nevada Special.

Just got back from some photo flying. Got a good one of it flying overhead.

I made a second one. Couldnt get it to fly right in the descent. More right rudder, twist wings, nothing. Got it to go straight, but not turn. Not something you want when flying from a small park. Finally I tried twisting the stick to tilt the tailplane. Made it worse. So I tilted it the other way. Now it flys OK. The tail must have negative lift on it. A tilted tailplane produces a side force that turns the plane.

This complete, illustrated tutorial will guide you step by step through the process of building your own Snowflake. This may be used by individuals or groups like scouts, school classes, senior centers or recreation programs. There are a lot of steps, but none of them are especially difficult. Be patient and take your time.

This picture shows the parts you will make. There are only 18 parts in this airplane and 6 of them are preformed. The plastic prop, prop bearing/hanger and steel prop shaft will be bought. The rubber motor is cut from a length of strip and tied into a loop. The motor is looped around a hook on the back of the prop shaft and a wire hook attached to the back end of the fuselage stick. The wing mounts to a saddle made of balsa parts and held to the stick by two dental rubber bands. The flight surfaces are cut from foam plates. The wing is creased to form a cambered airfoil shape. This curve improves both the aerodynamics and the strength of the wing compared with a flat plate.

Here is what you will need to build your own Snowflake.

A 7 Peck Polymers plastic propeller.

You can use the bearing and shaft from a6 propeller assembly, as I did, or you can order theProp HangerandShaftseparately. You can make your own shaft from 0.039 steel wire, which matches the diameter of the wire on the 6 propeller assembly.

The stock rubber motor is 52 1/2 of3/32 rubber strip. This will make a 26 loop, with an estimated maximum turn count of around 3,000 turns.

You can put more turns into a motor with less chance of breaking if you usemotor lube. You can make your own lube by mixing together equal volumes of green soap and glycerin. The green soap is slippery and the glycerin is a moisturizer.

It is easier to get the tightly wound motor onto the hook if it has anO-Ringat the back end.

Heavy3/16 dental bandsare used to hold the wing on.

You will need several sizes of balsa wood, which you can find at local hobby, hardware, art and craft stores, or you can order fromSigorMidwest. Experienced builders can use lighter wood. Inexperienced builders may be safer with harder wood, especially for the fuselage.

The fuselage stick is a 16 length of 1/8 x 1/4. (If you make it 15, you can get two fuselages and two rib pieces from the standard 36 stick. This would work well for a group build.)

The nose block is 1/2 of 1/8 square. This should be medium to hard wood.

The rib block is a 3 length of 1/8 x 1/4. It can be light wood, or it can come from the same stock as the fuselage stick.

The hold down stick is 3 5/8 of 1/16 x 1/8. It should be medium to hard wood.

The wing saddle face plates are made from 1/16 x 3 sheet balsa. Each plane will need about a 1 1/4 length. The grain goes vertical.

Each plane needs arear motor hook. These are easy to make from a straight sewing pin, 0.020 steel wire or you can buy them.

Each plane will require four foam plates. We have been calling these 9 plates, although the package says they are 8 7/8 diameter. Make sure there is at least a 6 diameter flat circle in the center. Some 8 7/8 plates have only 5 1/2 of flat area. You can use 1 mm Depron foam if you prefer, but planes made for the Foam Plate Airplane Contest must be made from plates.

I find it is helpful to have a box in which to keep all the small parts and subassemblies, to keep things from wandering off and getting lost or broken.

You will need a well lighted, flat surface to work on. You may want to protect the surface with a work board or several layers of newspaper. Cutting is done on a piece of corrugated box cardboard, to prevent cutting into the surface of the table.

I keep my tools in a box, but I get tired of pawing through a jumble of tools looking for just the one I want. For a given project, I will need only certain ones. It is convenient to lay them out in plain sight across the back of my work table in roughly the order in which they will be needed.

The foam parts are made by cutting around cardboard patterns or templates. We must make the templates first.

The templates are made from thin cardboard. In this case, I used the cover of a graph paper notebook. Cereal, cake or cracker boxes make good template material.

Make the wing pattern. Start by making two marks 5 3/16 apart along one of the straight edges of the cardboard.

Draw perpendiculars to the edge at both marks.

Put marks at 1 1/4 and 3 1/16 from the edge on each perpendicular. (Note that I made a mistake on the one along the ruler, I marked at 1 3/4. That had to be corrected. Both mark locations must be measured from the same edge.)

One edge must be cut on a curve so the cambered wings will fit together with a dihedral angle between them. (This will become clear later when you see how the wing panels fit together.) At the 1 1/4 mark along one edge, put a mark 1/32the edge. This will be the high point of the curve.

Draw a smooth curve through the three points; the leading edge, the high point and the trailing edge. The tangent to the curve atshould be parallel with the base line. You may need to move the curve and do it in two arcs.

Cut out the wing panel along the straight edges with a steel straight edge and razor.

Use the curve to guide the pointed knife in cutting the curved edge. Make several shallow cuts, rather than trying to cut through in one pass. It is easier to make precise cuts with gentle pressure. The blade is kept tangent to the curve, so it will not cut into the curve. You will need to move the curve and make the cut in two arcs.

Make an arrow to point toward the leading edge of the wing. This is the edge that is 1 1/4 away from the high point of camber.

Along the straight edge, make 6 marks at 1/4 intervals, starting from the leading edge. These mark the positions of the camber creases. (I now suggest making a seventh crease, 1/2 beyond the sixth.)

Mark a point halfway along the leading and trailing edges, 2 19/32 from the ends. These mark the center line of the center wing panel. This template will be used to make all three wing panels. Note that I have written a label on the template so it can be identified later.

Punch holes on the centerline about 3/32 in from both edges. These holes will be transferred to the foam center wing panel to locate it on the center rib.

Now we will make the template for the wing saddle side plates. Cut a 3 wide rectangle from your cardboard. Mark both perpendicular edges 5/16 out from the 3 side.

Draw a line connecting those two points.

Make a mark 1 1/4 from one end of the 3 pencil line.

Mark a little cross 1/4 out from the previous mark.

Use the curve to draw the airfoil shape. The curve must pass through the leading edge, the high point and the trailing edge, and the tangent at the high point must be parallel with the baseline.

Use the knife and the curve to cut along the airfoil. Make several shallow cuts, rather than trying to cut through in one pass. It is easier to make precise cuts with gentle pressure. The blade is kept tangent to the curve, so it will not cut into the curve. You will need to move the curve and make the cut in two arcs.

These are the four templates you will need to cut out the sheet parts. Make the fin and tailplane according to the dimensions given. Mark the centerline on the tailplane and punch pin holes 3/32 in from each end on the centerline. Mark a rudder hinge line 1/4 forward of the fin trailing edge. It starts 3/8 up from the base. Poke pin holes 3/32 down from the top of the hinge line and at the bottom corner of the rudder.

It is a good idea to store the templates in a labeled envelope, so they dont get misplaced.

Place a plate over the cutting board, locate the tailplane template in the flat area of the plate and cut around the template. The foam is soft, little pressure is required to cut through it. Keep the face of the blade flat on the edge of the template and draw the knife slowly, just like drawing a line with a pencil.

Push a pin through the holes which mark the ends of the centerline to make holes through the tailplane. These holes will help align the tailplane with the center of the stick.

Place the fin template on the remaining flat area of the plate with its trailing edge aligned along the cut of the tailplane trailing edge. Cut around the fin template. You get two parts from one plate.

When the fin is free from the surrounding foam, punch the two holes that mark the rudder hinge line.

Place the fin on a block with the holes marking the rudder hinge line aligned over the edge. Press the rudder down, forming a crease on the rudder hinge line. The rudder should be bent toward the right side of the fin.

Like this. We will adjust the exact amount of rudder deflection in the field during flight tests.

Now place the wing panel template in the flat part of another plate and cut around it, as before. This will be a wing tip, with one straight edge and one curved edge. The straight edge will be the outer tip, the curved edge will be where this tip panel joins the center wing panel. This curve must be cut very precisely. We must be careful to keep track of the orientation of these panels; leading edge/trailing edge, upper surface/lower surface. They must be properly oriented when they go together to form the wing.

Align the leading edges of the template and the wing panel, with the template offset a bit to the inside of the wing tip, and transfer the marks for the positions of the creases onto the wing panel.

The crease marks are on the under surface of the wing. That and the position of the curved edge tells us that this is going to be the right wing tip. Put an R in the corner near the leading edge and the curved end.

Flip the template over, place it in the flat part of another plate and repeat the process of cutting out a wing panel. Pay attention to which edge is the leading edge. I marked it on the plate before cutting it out.

Repeat the process of marking crease locations on both edges and put an L in the corner near the leading edge and the curved end.

The center panel is next. This requires curved edges onends. Place the template in the center of another plate and mark the centerline position on the plate.

Punch holes through the foam to mark the centerline on the foam wing.

Cut along the leading edge, the curved end and the trailing edge, but

Flip the pattern over, aligning the leading and trailing edges of the template with the leading and trailing edges of the wing panel, and aligning the centerline holes in the template with the centerline marks on the plate, and cut along the curved end. Be sure the curves are oriented in the same way, so the leading edges of both ends correspond.

Mark the crease locations on both ends of the center panel.

That completes the cutting out of the foam parts.

Place a block of wood (or a stiff ruler) on the wing panel, with an edge aligned with corresponding crease marks.

Press the edge of the block against the table, creasing the foam. Be careful to not crease the foam along the

Make creases between all six pairs of marks.

Shape the curve with your fingers until it fits the rib pattern. (This is where that seventh crease helps the aft portion conform to the rib curve.)

Another way to do this is to place the wing panel on a piece of paper, align the edge of a block or ruler with the corresponding crease marks, and pull the paper up. You must press down firmly on the block to keep the paper from slipping out.

With the wing panels aligned side to side, we see that there is a tapered gap between them.

This curved gore allows the tip panels to be raised up, forming the dihedral angles in the wing. Raising the tips closes the gaps so the panels may be glued together.

If you are a hero, you can spread glue on the edge of one panel, bring the leading and trailing edges of adjacent panels together, bring the high points together and hold the panels in place as the glue dries. Watching glue dry is not one of the more exciting things to do in life.

Cut out six, plus a couple extra, pieces of tape, 1/4 x 1/2. The roll of tape is divided by placing a razor blade on top of a 1/2 high spacer and rotating the roll against the point of the blade.

Place bits of tape extending off a curved end at the leading and trailing edges. Press the tape down firmly.

Spread a bead of glue along the curved edge of the adjoining wing panel.

Bring the two edges together and slide them back and forth to spread glue uniformly over both pieces.

Carefully align the trailing edges, butt the ends firmly against each other and back up the second panel with a block of wood.

Push the tape across the join and press it firmly onto the other panel, against the block of wood.

Press a piece of tape firmly to one panel between the 50% and 60% marks.

Carefully align all the intermediate panels so their edges are firmly butted against each other. Put a block behind the other panel, push the tape across the joint and press it firmly in place on the other panel.

A bead of glue is run along the top of the joint and smoothed out with a wet finger tip. Gaps in the underside of the joint can be filled by wiping glue across the joint.

Do the same with the other wing panel. Set the wing on blocks in an out of the way place and let the glue dry.

I had already cut all the sticks to length. Measure, mark and cut in the miter box with the razor saw. If you are planing to do a group build, you might want tocut parts in bulk.

Weight and balance are critical considerations with airplanes. We want the weight forward. Mark the midpoint 8 along the 16 length of the stick. (7 1/2 if you use a 15 stick.)

Balance the stick at its midpoint on the edge of the ruler. The heavy end will go down.

Mark the heavy end. This will be the front end where the propeller goes. The tail goes on the back end. The stick has a front end and a back end. It has a top and a bottom. The wing and fin go on top, the propeller bearing, tailplane and rear motor hook go on the bottom.

Mark 3/16 up from the bottom surface at the tail end of the 1/4 wide stick.

Mark 2 1/4 from the tail end along the under side of the stick.

Draw a line between these two marks.

Cut the 3/16 x 2 1/4 triangle off. This is waste. Cut into the waste, rather than into the stick. This cut will be finished with sandpaper, so leaving a little waste is better than cutting into the final part.

Place the stick on top of a block with the surface to be sanded extended a little over the edge. Back it up with a piece of hard 1/8 x 1/2 or similar. Place the edge of the sanding block flat on the table and gently sand down to the line. The sides of the stick are parallel with the table top, the sandpaper is perpendicular to the table top, so the sanded surface will be perpendicular to the side surfaces of the stick.

You can press the sanded surface to the table top to check that it is perpendicular.

Spread glue on the top of the nose bock. Just enough glue so the surface is shiny, but you can still see wood through it is right. I use wood glue for the wood joints.

Press the nose block to the under surface of the stick at the nose end. Align it carefully with the end and sides of the stick.

Check that the nose block and the tailplane taper are both on the same side of the stick.

Run a bead of glue along the tailplane taper.

Spread the glue uniformly across the entire surface.

Align the pinholes in the tailplane with the centerline of the stick and press it into place.

Press it in place. Set it aside in a safe place with a weight holding it down while the glue dries.

With a block of wood, align the flat edge of the rib template with the end of the 3 wide 1/16 balsa sheet. Cut along the curved top edge of the rib. Make several shallow cuts, rather than trying to cut through in one pass. It is easier to make precise cuts with gentle pressure. The blade is kept tangent to the template curve, so it will not cut into the template.

Cut inward at the edges. If you cut out across an edge, the wood will splinter. Make two of these.

These instructions will help you make you your own huaraches from scratch using our 4mm Connect or 6mm ContactXero Shoe Kits. If you purchased a Vibram Classic Kit, or want to learn to make running sandals using any other material, check out ourHow To Make Huarachespage.

And, at the end of the instructions youlllearn how to tie huaraches.

What youll need to make your Xero shoes:

Practically nothing. Our kits come with everything you need to make your own barefoot sandals.

hole punch, to make the toe hole for your shoes

Magazine or newspaper to put under your outsoles when you use the hammer and punch (so you dont punch through your floor or table)

You dont need to get every tiny nook and cranny, and youre not trying to get an EXACT measurement of the sole of your foot in fact, by holding the pen vertically, youre making a trace thats slightly bigger than your foot, like getting the shadow of your foot and thats exactly what you want.

Step 3 Even out the tracing

You want to smooth out the curves. For example, you want to make the toe area into a curve, rather than bumps for each toe.

Also, I extend the area on the inside of the big toe and the ball of the foot a little bit (sometimes when you run, your foot slips to the inside, so you want to add a bit of extra space here)

You can use a good pair of kitchen scissors for this. Or if you have them, use tin snips, or a pair of EMT Shears (also called EMS Shears).

Cutaroundthe tracing. That is, cut on the outside of the line youve drawn, rather than ON the line. Again, that little extra bit can help. Plus, you can always cut your huaraches and make them smaller, but you cant make them bigger, so err on the side of too big.

If you have our 6mm Contact sole, you may have to put some elbow grease into it theyre a bit harder to cut through.

Also, if you are right handed, its easier to cut in acounter-clockwisedirection.

Then, when youre done, if there are some jagged corners you want to clean up, do that by cutting in a

direction, or try using some sandpaper.

Step on your soles and, using a marker (I use the Sharpie from Step 2), put a dot between your 1st and 2nd toe, about 1/8 in front of the webbing between your toes.

If theres a gap between your 1st two toes, put the markslightlycloser to the 2nd toe than right in the middle of the space between the toes.

The reason for this is, as you run, your foot will want to shift toward the inside. By putting the hole closer to the 2nd toe, your foot stays in place better.

SPECIAL:We now include a hollow punch, like the one pictured to the right, with every Xero Shoe kit,absolutely free of charge. (if you want to buy an additional punch,click here)

Punch out the toe hole using the included hollow punch or, if you happen to have one handy, you can use a rotary hole punch (if you dont have one of these, you can find them at any craft store, or on eBay, or you can usually borrow one at a leather or shoe repair shop).

To use the hollow punch:Place a magazine, or folded newspaper, or piece of scrap wood on the floor or table (somehardsurface). This is to protect the surface when you use the hollow punch.

Position the hollow punch on the toe hole mark you made in the previous step. Hold it perpendicular to the ground/sole (not at an angle).

Give it a good whack with a hammer.Hollow Punch

Check out the video to the right if you use the bobby pin method, theres nothing to prepare.

If you use the first two methods, becarefulwith the heated ends the material stays HOT when you heat it (no surprise there, I hope 😉 )

Push one end of the lace through the toe hole, from the top to the bottom.

Make a knot in the lace, on the bottom side.

Traditionally, I used a Figure 8 knot, pictured here.

After youve made the knot, run the flame from a lighter (or match) under the knot, to melt the nylonslightly, then press the knot together to seal it and flatten it a a bit.

If you want, squeeze the knot flatter with a pliers.

Lately, though, Ive been using a lower profile Lace bead.

Pass the lace through the outside ankle hole first, from top to bottom.

Then pass the lace through the inside ankle hole, also from top to bottom.

Follow the pictures to get it correct you want the lace to lock in around the holes.

Step 10 Select one of the fun tying styles

Theres been more creativity in the how to tie huaraches arena since we started selling Xero Shoes than there has been in the 10,000 years since someone first came up with sandals like these.

And theres no way to have written instructions for them all (well, there is, but it would be miserable to go through them.

Instead, check out the different cool, decorative, and stylish ideas with video instructions abouthow to tie huaraches and what to do with leftover lace

There are dozens of tying styles. Heres our favorite.

Remember, though, totake it easy at first. If youre not used to going barefoot, especially running barefoot, youll be putting more stress on your muscles and skin than youre used to. Work your way into your huaraches slowly.

And if you come up with cool, new tying ideas, let us know so we can put them on ourTying Page

Join the worldwide Xero community and you can:

Get Xero Circle specials and discounts

Get a free subscription to Feel The World 7 Steps to enjoying the fun and benefits of natural movement

If you somehow manage to wear through the outsole on your Xero Shoes, we will replace them for a nominal cost.

Fostering honest and responsive relationships between businesses and consumers.

Im an international ultramarathon athlete and I wear Xero Shoes for races. No blisters. No smelly feet. But I also use them as my everyday sandals (they look way cool!) and I recommend Xeros to everyone.

As a barefoot runner Ive heard lots about huaraches but it wasnt until Steven made me my first pair (I have two) that I understood how much fun they are to run distances in!

Thank you for making these amazing huaraches. I love how they feel. I forget they are there so much so I have worn them to bed a few times!

If you somehow manage to wear through the outsole on your Xero Shoes, we will replace them for a nominal cost.

We wont bother you and promise to only give great deals and inspiration.

So youve thought of it: Taking your design ideas and putting them out there for everyone to see.

Well, youre in luck, we have answers!

Below youll find 10 companies that can help you make money by designing T-Shirts online.

Partnering with Tee Spring is like crowdfunding with T-Shirts! Its 100% free to design your shirt. Simply use the online designer to create your product by either uploading your design or using clip art from the site. Youll have to set a sales goal or tipping point, which is the minimum you need to sell in order to have your shirts printed. Then share your campaign via email, your website, or your favorite social media networks. Your customers wont be charged unless your campaign reaches the tipping point. Once your campaign ends, shirts are printed and sent out, and youll be sent a check for the profit.

There are many factors when figuring exactly how much you can earn withTee Spring, and it varies depending on everything, from the text and design you use to your choice of t-shirt. Just so you can get an idea of possible earnings with Tee Spring, you can start with a basic shirt that costs $5.75 and add a design and text for a total cost of $7.40 per shirt. You can choose your retail price but say you opt to sell your shirts for $12.00 each and have a goal of selling 50 shirts. That would give you a profit of $229. Of course, the more shirts you sell, the higher your profit.

Wondering if you can really make money using Tee Spring? Seehow Benny Hsu made $100,000 in five months using this t-shirt selling platform!

You can join Zazzle as a designer and upload and sell your artwork on t-shirts and many other products. Open a FREE designer store (you even get to choose your store name), select a product to add your design to, and post your designs for sale. Zazzle has a large selection of products: T-Shirts, coffee mugs, wall art, office supplies, electronics accessories, and much, much more! Even pillows and jewelry!

There are no upfront costs, and you set your royalty rates yourself that can be anywhere from 5% to 99%. Zazzle produces the products and ships everything directly to the customer.

Dont have killer design skills? Become a Zazzle Associate! Link and share your favorite shops and items made by others, and you can still earn a commission!

At Zazzle, t-shirts are priced a little higher right out of the gate, but you can still make a decent profit plus there isnt a minimum amount you have to sell.

Again, there are many variables here. An example would be, you can create a simple design, and the t-shirt will run you $19.95, then you set the percentage of your royalty rate. So if you choose a 20% royalty rate, your shirt will sell for $23.95, earning you a profit of $4.55 per shirt after the 24 cent transaction fee (which only applies when your royalty rate is set at 20% or above). Sell 50 shirts, earn about $227.

Spreadshirt allows you to upload a design to the Marketplace and sell to the Spreadshirt audience or open your own online shop for FREE and sell your designs directly to your target audience. You set your own commissions. At Spreadshirt, accounts are free forever, and you control your profit margin.

With over 150 products for you to choose from, theres sure to be something for everyone!

If you have mad design skills, you can create your own designs and earn anywhere from $1.50 and more on each design sold (which means another creator purchases and uses your design on their product).

You can also create tees, either with your designs or the designs of others. I created a simple t-shirt that cost $14.20, then added a design for $4.50, so the cost to make the shirt was $18.70. At that point, you tack on your commission whatever amount youd like based on your design and what you think you can earn. I would stick around the same pricing as the other sites to stay competitive, so I chose a commission of $4.00 per shirt, bringing the selling price up to $22.70. Selling 50 shirts would net me a profit of 200 dollars.

See your artwork on t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, posters, and bumper stickers. You can sell in the Cafepress Marketplace for free or set up your own branded online shop to sell on your website for around $5-$10 a month, depending on the options you choose.

Big brands are using Cafe Press; youll find the likes of ABC, Paramount, Sprout, and National Geographic among the shop owners.

Cafepress also offers crowdfunded custom t-shirts and apparel through their platform, Tfund. There are no upfront costs; just design your product, create your campaign, set a goal, and sell t-shirts! Spread the word via email and social media, and once you reach your goal, collect your profits.

Selling through Tfund allows you to set your own pricing as well, and the more you sell, the more you make. Prices vary to create a shirt depending on your design and text, but I created a simple shirt with text and a graphic and listed it for $20. You can earn profit even with as few as 10 shirts ($63.10). Selling 50 shirts would net a whopping $410! (And remember, thats on a $20 shirt!) This is a great option if youre looking to crowdfund.

Blue Cotton has 20 years of experience and guarantees their quality, which is nice to hear nowadays. They are a custom print t-shirt shop that has an amazing design studio. For the most part, individuals order shirts for personal use or to have stock on hand, like in a physical storefront. While they dont offer an online store option for you to sell your shirts, they do offer campaigns as a way for you to make money.

With campaigns, there is no risk and no inventory. You design the t-shirts, set the price, add a description, and set your goal. Then get to work at sharing your campaign on your social media channels, on your blog or website, in emails, and with friends and family. When your campaign in over, your customers will receive their shirts, and youll receive a nice check (or PayPal deposit) with the profits.

Printful gives you the benefits of running a store without all the hassle. There are no minimum purchases, monthly fees, or inventory. If you already have a store or are planning on opening one, this is an excellent choice as you can connect it with Printful. They integrate with Shopify, Amazon, Storenvy, Woo Commerce, and more. That being said, if you dont have a store or arent planning on having one, then this wont be an option for you. T-Shirt prices start at $9.99. They also have a whole lineup of items you can put your designs on including leggings, pillows, posters, tote bags, cell phone cases, and more.

At Threadless, you make art, and theyll do the rest! You can open your completely customizable artist shop for free and sell anywhere in the world. You set your prices and earn a profit on anything over the base cost of the merchandise. T-shirts and tanks have a base cost of $15, so if you sell them for $25, youre earning $10 bucks on every single shirt. Thats not too bad! There are no minimums, no shipping fees, and they handle inventory and customer care.

A Global Marketplace for Independent Artists, at Redbubble, you create and upload your designs to sell on t-shirts, vinyl stickers, posters, device cases, and more. They give you total control of what you sell your art for, just add your margin to their base price and list your products. Most artists earn an average of 17%, but its totally up to you to decide. Redbubble does all the heavy lifting including handling the sale transactions, coordinating the printing, arranging for delivery, and providing customer service. With no monthly fees and free sign up, its another great way to get started earning money online designing t-shirts.

TeePublic is a good option even if youre not an artist or designer per se. You can make money with this t-shirt company two ways. First, you can create your own designs and upload them to products for your store. This earns you a set price commission that varies depending on the product but ranges from $2.00-$8.00 on shirts, tanks, and hoodies.

Second, you can become a partner and have a merch store. This is a neat option because you can feature shirts with designs from other artists. You get to choose what you like and what to carry in your store. You earn a generous 31% commission on sales of your own merchandise and 11% on existing TeePublic designs. So even if youre not a designer, you can make money online selling t-shirts!

Even though Society 6 is for primarily selling art prints, you can add t-shirts to the mix once you have uploaded your design for a print. We wanted to include it here because many people who design t-shirts are artists, so this could be a viable option as a way to sell your artwork on many different items, including t-shirts.

One thing that might be considered a downfall is that although you can set your own prices on your art prints, the rest of the products such as t-shirts, travel mugs, and throw pillows have a set price. So you will still earn a profit, but it will be a commission that is paid on their base price that varies depending on the product. For example, t-shirts earn a profit of $2.40, tank tops $2.20, and long sleeve shirts $2.80. Still, with no minimums and no cost to sign up, it might be worth a try if youre an artist. You simply share your unique creator link with friends, family, and followers through email or on your favorite social media platforms and get a cut of their purchase profits.

Hopefully, these companies that can help you make money by designing t-shirts online. Do you know of any other good t-shirt designing resources? Let us know in the comments.

Studies have shown if you like this blog post you will also love the following articles.

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Originally published May 28, 2015. Content updated July 3, 2017.

This page includes affiliate links. Please be aware that we only promote advertising from companies we feel we can legitimately recommend to our readers. Please see our disclosure policy for further information.

Filed Under:Extra MoneyWork at Home IdeasTagged With:CafepressDesign T-ShirtsKimi ClarkMake MoneyMake Money OnlineSell T-Shirts OnlineSkreenedSpreadshirtTeeSpringThe Work at Home WomanWork at HomeWork at Home IdeaZazzle

For t-shirts, Represent and Society6 are websites Ive patronized.

If one is doing other sorts of art, DeviantArt is a possibility for prints, mugs, mousepads and such.

Thanks for an excellent article. I appreciate your research.

Glad you enjoyed the article, Judy. Thanks for sharing the other sites.

I trust FreshMonk for selling custom t-shirts. Making money by designing t-shirts has become the latest fad, and this sudden interest is truly justified too, considering the profit and creative satisfaction this field provides.

Thank you for this informative listicle!

Thanks for sharing, Gunshi. Sounds like youve had some success with this moneymaking opportunity good for you!

Great list, but it has been rumored that Cafepress exploits its designers. In fact, a petition has been made in concern with their greediness.

I hadnt heard that before. Do you have a link to the petition?

Question can i spread out my designs amongst all these sites

Yes, you can use multiple sites at the same time.

Thanks for this article! It is very informative & useful. I enjoy designing & crafting things, & I have been really thinking about tshirt designing. I have heard of & seen some of the sites mentioned but I never knew they provided these start-up opportunities. Wonderful ideas! 🙂

Glad you enjoyed the list. Good luck and keep us posted!

You can also check out cool t-shirt designs 🙂

Please. No. This is spec work. This is anti-designer. Sites like 99Designs explout working creatives. No way to make a living there. Boycott.

Agreed! Say no to spec. This is why Im sitting here starving, about to be homeless. Now Im joining a stampede of former graphic designers who have to design yard sale junk for a couple dollars a week.

Absolutely avoid sites like 99 Designs. Like Erin said spec work (not paid unless your design wins contest against other designers), and anti-designer.

RafTshirt design the Tshirts with custom designs which you guys order. Ordering a design on T shirts takes less than 2 minutes and delivery of your favourite design on T shirt will take place within 48 hours.

Thanks for the great article! Just a few quick questions. So, is around $3.00-$4.00 a pretty reasonable royalty price? And, when I upload my designs, are they still my designs? as in, I still have the rights to them?

Im not sure on that, Kerry. Youll need to read each sites terms of service. Good luck!

7 is the average on amazon Merch. Depends on your own pricing.

Holly, I would love to hear what you think of our site

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for sharing all the reserch! Here are a few factors that are important to me as well.

-Design placement range. I like to put my logo on the upper back, far enough up to clear a full back image. I think Cafe Press didnt have the template for this, but Custom Ink did. Alas, Custom Ink has no plans for opening up personal stores.

-Black shirt print quality. Cafe Press and Zazzle fell far behind on this one when I experimented.

-Personal store name. I would love the ability to choose an easy to remember web domain, and even the ability to have category subdivisions.

So far, Ive been the most impressed with TeeSpring as far as design capabilities are concerned. I just wish Custom Ink would join this personal market trend!

gReally a very nice post, Teespring is doing a great job its a great income opportunity to earn from tee income. Thanks for sharing your experiences here. Facebook advert. is a good way to get sales and good percentage of ROI

This is a stupid question but if you already have a design and everything for tee spring who prints out the shirts.

HiGreat article. I have stores in all of your mention sites and a few more. I love making designs using photoshop but many of these business you can use their artwork. I have been making money for about 5 years using these concepts. I started with Zazzle give up for a while then went back and started making some sales. This is a good way to make extra money but it is not easy. You have to really market your product and website and have some knowledge on SEO. If you are good at advertising and marketing this is a great way to make extra cash. So far zazzle and customizedgirl are the only ones making money without much effort.

Hi Carol, Thanks for sharing your experience!

Do you own the rights to your designs Carol?

Hi holly. I interested make design in t shirts. I have some ideas, how to hosting my ideas please suggest right website.

I havent used any of these platforms personally. Youll have to read their terms and see which one makes the most sense for you. Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for this article. Ive order from Teespring and the quality of the print was not good at all and doesnt last. Just ordered from Customcat and the quality is very good and holds up nice!

Hi Brandy, Bummer. I know you can pick various qualities of t-shirts, I wonder if that makes a difference on how well the overlay stays on. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Can i upload one same design on more than 1 websites?

Yes, you upload the same design to multiple platforms. But, you need to own the rights to the design.

Be careful when you use a few of these. The quality sometimes isnt the best. I used teespring once in the past to order shirts and was a bit disappointed. They may have improved since then however.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Tyler.

Can you tell me the real best one weasite for me holly

I havent tried any of them personally, but theyre all free to try out. Good luck and keep us posted.

Zazzle has been so far the best money maker for me. I havent done much work lately with it either. other than adding new designs. I also make a little money, but not as much on Cafe Press. I had recently started with Spoonflower and been a bit impressed with sales. You make the less money with that one, 5% 🙁 and plus you must proof your design before selling. Meaning you much order it to see it personally. Yikes! Which really is a good idea, but who can order every single design first before selling! But I have less than 12 designs on there now and already have a nice 1 seller. Keeps me on the site and occasionally proofing the designs as I add more along the way

What do you guys think about Threadless? Im currently using it but looking at other options.

Thats a new one to me, Ill have to check it out.

Im not sure youll have to check their terms of service.

Thanks a lot for your article, very interesting!

I recently discovered a French on-demand printing service ( that could be interesting for creative people who want to have their designs printed and distributed in France/Europe 🙂

Very nice tips, I had no idea about this! A few months ago, I started learning to design t shirts by following this guide: it started mainly as a hobby, but thru time I got pretty good, and now I am thinking about making a business out of it but I didnt know where to start, and now I do. Thank you for putting me in the right direction 🙂 Wish me luck!

Thats awesome, Susan! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

FYI Skreened better work on their rating at BBB

Ill have to check that out. There has been an explosion of t-shirt design companies in the past few years, so I may have to replace them with another company.

Great list. If you are looking for creative and brilliant designs or you want to create your own design on your t-shirts, I also recommend you Being the oldest t-shirt company in the world we have learned many tips and tricks.

You can share your ideas in our live chat, We are available 24*7.

I think you need to update this article. You should mention m and sunfrog.com. These are two of the biggest T-shirt sales websites

Thanks for sharing those! Well have to update the post =)

Teechip is an absolute rip off . I ordered shirts from them after without paying close enough attention and thinking it was teespring ( happy with everything I have gotten from them)

When I received shirts, the 2x was smaller than the large. Emailed multiple times, tried to call, sent them pics.. nothing .. thankfully I paid with PayPal .. the company didnt respond to them either.. so PayPal did the refund. They have horrible reviews all over the place..

Thanks for sharing your experience, Jenn! Good information to know.

They rip off of artists and use their designs. DONT DO IT!

Although nearly a year and a half old, Benny Hsus Tee Spring article on his netting over $100k selling Ts inspires in its honesty. (Internet traffic would probably be halved if all links to Make $10,000 in One Week were removed.) Hsus work lets us see some of what is really necessary to succeed.

Ive been reading and following up on several of your blog / emails your work is consistently thorough. I second MyfrogTees June 5th 2017 suggestion of updating this article. For instance, Ive seen grumblings about CafePress too (mentioned here in replies); and the pinkytee.com site seems stale nothing on the home page, and the last news post is dated December 26, 2016 as Benny Hsu efforts clearly shows, it takes a good number of failures before making it. Thats certainly true for internet businesses as well.

P.S. Does The WAH Woman have a T shirt line ? :))

Glad you enjoyed the article, Howard! I dont have t-shirt line yet. Its something Ive thought about, but, Im terrible at design, so I would need to hire a designer to create something for me.

Hey Holly, email me if youd like some suggestions for Ts you have material already! H

You forget one of biggest companies: Amazon (

Do any of these platforms allow you to upload a video? My t-shirt involves customizing and so without a video to demonstrate, it will not give it justice. Thank you for a very helpful article.

Hi David, Ive only played around with Teespring and their storefront doesnt have video capability (at least yet). Youll have to test out the other platforms to see if they allow video. Good luck!

hi is this opportunity open to people outside of the U.S cos am based in Nigeria

The Work at Home Woman is geared for U.S. residents.

Take a look at FlexJobs for international work-at-home jobs:

Hi, I have a shop on Etsy, currently designing t-shirts via CustomInk and the only problem is that its expensive itself, so it forces me to set prices high so that I can still make a profit. Obviously these high prices most likely make people turn away. Are any of these sites good for designing shirts and then selling them on a different site for a more reasonable price?

My name is shannon, and I just put up my website for the millionth time, only this time i intend for it to stay, and forsee it doing so, because I am adding things as i go along. i have a section called business tips and networking, and I would love to include your link in that section. I have immensely enjoyed the chatter on the t-shirt making businesses, because as a henna artist, i am looking to make some tees.

I look forward to reading more of your articles, and only hope that it can help my audience.

Thanks for the article. I tried my first T-shirt project using Teespring. I use their design tools to put quotes on a shirt and I think the final product on the screen looks cheap and amateurish because theres not many options when using their design tools. I probably wouldnt buy if I saw a Teespring ad for quotes on a shirt. But your article gave me other resources which I may pursue.

Nice list Holly! but still the most important thing isnt what platform to choose but how good my shirt is and if theres an audience for it?, most people focus on facebook ads and ignore the t-shirt design which is more important at the beginning, people wont buy ugly t-shirts.

Those are important aspects too. But you want to confirm that the platform that you choose has good quality products, ink that doesnt bleed, and prompt delivery of the products.

Is it a good idea to upload my design to all this pages? or it will be better to focus on one and advertise it properly?

I would focus on one platform and then spend your time promoting your products.

Sayings are really big sellers now. not a copyright issue. But what do you suggest to protect your design. some shops have the right to keep your design and keep producing it. Any advice on protecting designs? For now I would send designs im not attached to. Save my line for my site while submitting clever shirts on multiple sites and not worrying about the design. Do most sites advertise for you and you get a percentage? Is anyone using and having success with shopify? Facebook advertising?

Yes, sayings are popular right now, but you always need to do your due diligence and make sure youre not using someones copyrighted phrase or materials.

To protect your designs, I would look into trademarking your material.

Each site had different terms so youll need to read through all of them.

Teespring has a good article on understanding intellectual property:

And here is another article on protecting your designs:

When in doubt, I always suggest talking with your lawyer. Good luck!

What about designbyhumans ? Is that a good site?

so many t-shirt selling platform out there, im so excited to get in, i dont know if i should start design and upload to all those platform or i should focus on one? cause more mean more opportunity

How do I become an artist/designer so I can do try these websites out?

You dont need any special software. Just click on the links to the websites and everything you need will be supplied via their portals.

I have interest in designing the special occasion dresses and wondering if you have any idea about such websites where i can share my designs and earn some money in return

Take a look at this post for starting your fashion line:

Hi great article, thank you. I have a question though. You choose a crowd fund situation campaign and you have a set goal What happens if orders continue to come in beyond your goal? Can you continue selling said design for quite awhile or is it closed out and the end of campaign?

And I really my point is with the above situation or in general is volume something any of these companies on your list can handle if your design T-shirt and/or bumper sticker goes viral?

Yes, you can continuing selling beyond your goal. I would assume they would be able to handle the volume.

Nymbl just rolled out our public beta for our print-on-demand e-commerce platform and we have a pretty awesome deal for all new users:

By using this site, you are agreeing to the sitesterms of use.We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok

About: I am trying to do what I love to do. Looking for people to do it with!

This is an instructable for making your own pair of shoes with materials you can buy in an art store or a fabric store. I base my technique off of traditional shoe making methods, but you wont need expensive materials, a nice set up, or complex tools.This method will also create perfectly fitting shoes as the pattern will be drawn from your own feet!The total cost of this project is less than $50 and, will take under 20 hours.*Note: if you choose not to use leather, you shoes will probably be best as indoor-only shoes*Materials:The Shoe2 sqft 1/4 thick cork (OR shoe leather, which can be bought at a shoe repair store)1 yard of each fabric/leather used on the outside of the shoe1 yard of the fabric used on the inside of the shoeThread (thicker is best)8+ EyeletsShoe lacesMasking tapeSuperglue (or Shoe Goo)PaperThe Last (cast of your foot)13+oz. of alginate64+oz. of Permastone (or another casting material like rubber)Cardboard boxTapeTools:ScissorsRetractable utility knifeEyelet puncher (usually comes with eyelets)MarkerPliersNeedlesAwlCutting mat

The most important step in any project is the design phase. Think about the type of shoe you want to make and do some sketches.For my shoe, I ended up wanting to do a fancier-looking dancing shoe with a wider end that wouldnt constrict my toes.

We need to make a last before we do anything.A last is a hard, usually wooden, object that shoemakers build their shoes around. Lasts look like feet, with extra space in front of the toes to accommodate the sleek pointed style common in shoes.Lasts are important because they allow you to accurately draw your patterns, give you a harder surface to work with, and they also provide a quick context when you are unsure.Here you have two options:1) Buy a last: ask a shoemaker or do an Internet search (these are not expensive)2) Make a cast of your foot and augment that.Ill teach you how to make your own lasts, but if you choose to buy some, they arent very expensive.

Making lasts is a great way of ensuring a perfect fit for your feet. For this process, you will need alginate to make a mold of your foot, a casting material, and a box to hold your mold in.To make your mold, you first need a makeshift box for your foot.Leave plenty of room around your foot (note: the more space you leave the more alginate youll need to use).

Time to make your mold, which is a negative of your foot. Alginate can be found at most craft stores. Its non-toxic and good for single-use molds. Im using a 13 oz bag, which costs around $8. You may want to use a bag and a half, but we can make do with a single bag. This material will not damage your tools.First, mix the alginate and water in a large mixing bowl. You can use a spatula, but your hands are the best mixers. You will use around 6 cups of *COLD* water for an entire bag, but I highly recommend you add water gradually to your mixture isnt too liquidy.The alginate is ready to pour when it is gloopy.Working quickly, pour the mixed alginate into the box youve made.Put your foot in the box. Depending on whether you want your shoe to conform to your foot flat on the ground or not, you may want to suspend your foot in the alginate without letting it touch the ground.Your foot should be covered to slightly above the ankles in alginate. If you dont have enough alginate add some napkins to the empty space in the mold to fill it out.Wait for about 20 minutes until the alginate solidifies into sturdy jelly.

Remove your foot from the alginate mold. Be careful as you do this; the alginate will hold well, but you dont want to rip chunks off.If you are worried, you can use a utility knife to *carefully* cut along the top of your foot to pull your foot out.

You will need about 5 cups of your casting material for an average male shoe size (estimate). I am going to use Permastone, which is inexpensive and more durable than plaster. If you find yourself short of material, you can add filler in the form of napkins (as with the alginate mold) or powders like sawdust.Mix your material according to its instructions and pour it into your alginate mold. Put your bowl and mixer in the sink under running water while you work to minimize the risk of damage to your tools.Tips:1) Tilt your box back and forth to make sure you get it into the toes and crevices.2) Tap the sides of the box hard, shake it against the ground, and continue tilting it until to force air bubbles to the surface. This is satisfying.Remember though, were doing this cheap and easy, so your mold probably wont be perfect and thats OK.Let your cast sit until youre sure its dry.Note: I am using PermaStone, which is pretty cheap ($6 a box), but you can substitute another material such as rubber if you have the means. I do not recommend plaster, as it takes forever to dry and it is fragile.

When your material is dry, take apart your box so you have a big cube of alginate.Dont be shy: tear your alginate apart to reveal your mold. Dont worry about the alginate, its meant for a single use.If you are planning on wearing your shoes, youll want to make the other foot as well 🙂

Following your shoe design, crumple up tape and add it to the front on your cast to round off the end as you desire.It is important that you are satisfied with the shape of your last, because the shape of the last determines the shape of your shoe.

Wrap your entire last in two or three layers of masking tape (You need to cover the bottom of the last too!).Then, carefully draw the patterns for your shoe design on the tape.Finally, Cut your masking tape pattern along the lines you drew with your utility knife.*Importantly,* continue your cuts down onto the bottom of your last at least 1. You will need this extra fabric to properly sew your shoe together in later steps.Your pattern should consist of at least four parts (see the diagram).1) Vamp: This part covers your laces and moves down to the bottom of the shoe2) Counter: This is the back of the shoe. It is usually stiffer to give the shoe shape (but not necessarily)3) Toe: The front of the shoe4) The… other part: This part is in between the front of the shoe and the vamp.* Note: This process could also be used to copy the pattern of a shoe you really like *

Remove your patterns (careful not to tear them) and flatten your 3-D patterns into 2-D patterns.If you need to, cut darts (triangles) into the extra few inches of pattern from the bottom of the last to help the patterns flatten.

Trace your patterns on paper.Add a 1/4 seam allowance on all your patterns.If you are a new sewer, you may want to add even more allowance so that you can fudge your shoe construction.* Note: remember to draw a pattern for a shoe tongue as well (a rectangle whose shape is determined by your design). *

In the last step you drew your patterns on paper, and then drew an extra seam allowance.If we left things here wed have a problem: when stitching the fabric pieces together again it would be difficult to allow for the seam allowance purely by eye.So in this step we cut out small pockets along the original pattern tracing so that we can mark our materials in the next step.

Arrange your patterns on your fabric. Using either tape or pins, stick the patterns onto the fabric.Using a pencil or marker, lightly outline the patterns on the fabric and remember to mark the seam allowance in the holes we cut in the last step.Cut your pieces out.* Note: remember that you are cutting your patterns twice: once for the outer material and once for the inner material. ** Note: consider which side of your fabric you want showing. ** Remember: Keep your paper patterns; for the opposite shoe you will flip your patterns over and repeat. *

You now need to sew all of your patterns together. If you arent familiar with sewing, check out these next few steps for help.There are two ways you can stitch your pieces together. Consult the photos.The First Way:Line your patterns up and pin them together so that the seam allowance guides you marked follow each other. This may be a little difficult.Sew within your seam allowance. It is important to sew in a straight, smooth fashion or your seam will look messy when you invert the fabric.The Second Way:Depending on your style, you may want to cut the seam allowance off *one* of the two patterns, simply overlapping it with the adjacent pattern so that its edge lines up with the seam allowance markings you drew earlier.Once lined up you can stitch your pattern without needing to invert the fabric later. I did this on the outside of my shoe, using the white string in my stitching to accent my black leather pieces (see photos).*Note: user Lukieh suggests that machine-sewing or saddle stitching would improve the durability of the shoe, wherever sewing is required. I wholeheartedly agree. The stitching in this instructable is done in haste primarily, so, without a sewing machine, I didnt bother to saddle stitch.*

Sew your patterns back together can be straightforward if you know how to sew. If you dont here are some tips.*Before you begin, know which side will be showing and which side will be hidden (by the other fabric layer.) and work on the hidden side.*Sewing your darts back together will give your patterns shape.To sew these back together fold your fabric such that the corners of your two edges line up.Grip the point where the actual lines on the pattern (excluding the seam allowance) meet with one hand and sew towards it with your needle/sewing machine.Once you get to the point youre gripping, turn your sewing around and stitch back to the edge to ensure a strong stitch.Refer to the photos.

Once youve finished a stitch tie it off.The way I do this is by beginning a simple knot and then using my needle to guide the knot down close to the fabric.

Messing up sucks, but you can easily avoid problems if you constantly refer to your design and use your last as reference.

Leather is pretty tough to stitch through, so if youre using leather and you dont have a capable sewing machine, I recommend banging your holes into the leather before you begin stitching.You dont HAVE to do this, but it will save you some frustration.Using a $4 awl and a hammer (and a cutting mat/book I didnt want), I banged each hole into my leather.

Sew your pieces together until you have the two separate layers: the outside pattern and the inside pattern.Now, youll need to sew the inside pattern to the outside pattern.To do this line your seam allowances up (*with the wrong sides of the patterns facing outward*) and stitch along the 1/4 seam allowance you cut out earlier.

Make sure your sewing is neat and tight and when you have finished going completely around the ankle and the sides of your vamp (where your shoe laces will be) flip your pattern over.

Dont forget about the shoe tongue!To make this youll want to take your two shoe tongue pieces, the outer and inner, and line them up, their wrong sides facing outward.Sew along the 1/4 seam allowance on both of the sides and the top of the tongue. *Do not sew the bottom of the tongue shut.*Next, forcibly invert the tongue through its bottom (see photo).If your corners arent fully inverted you can push them out with a closed pare of scissors.At this step youll want to tack on your shoe tongue with a few stitches in discreet places.*Tip: sew some extra stitches around the bottom of your tongue sides to add some reinforcement.*

Before we move on to the sole of the shoe we need to add eyelets and laces to the upper.Eyelets are the holes where your laces will be threaded.Depending on what your design, you can either make holes in the fabric itself, or you can add metal eyelets. Its up to you.A fancy eyelet tool will cost you $20, but you can packs of eyelets often come with simpler tools that do the same thing.To add eyelets, mark the places on your fabric where you want to add shoe lace holes and, according to the instructions included on whatever tool youre using, punch holes or cut holes, place your eyelet pieces in, and punch them together. Its pretty simple!

Put your last inside your upper to fill its shape in.Pick a pair of laces youre happy with and tie your shoe for the very first time. Dont tie it so tight that your pattern distorts.At this point you are essentially done with your upper and we will be moving on to your soles.Make sure you have:1) sewn your patterns together.2) sewn your outer fabric to your inner fabric layer3) punched eyelet holes4) sewn your tongue on5) added laces

We are going to move on to the shoe sole. There are three parts of shoe soles.1) The insole: this is the part of the shoe that your foot comes in contact with. This must be slightly soft.2) The midsole: this is a part of the shoe we wont need to be making. Typically the midsole is curved to provide arch support.3) The outsole: This is the bottom of the shoe that makes contact with the ground. Usually made of sturdy leather or rubber.I will demonstrate everything using 1/4 and 1/8 cork, which is easy to find at any place with architectural supplies.Begin by tracing your last on a piece of 1/4 cork. Make sure you add around 1/2 extra so that you avoid cutting something too small.Cut out your sole with a utility blade.**These steps also work with shoe leather, which you can buy from a shoe repair store for around $30 a sole**

Soak your cork/leather sole in water for 24 hours.Tie your sole to your last tightly so that it conforms to the shape of your foot. Set it in the sun and let it dry.The sole will keep the shape of your arch when you untie it.

Hold (or secure) your insole to the bottom of your last.Since you left some extra material around your foot tracing, you should have some paring to do.Using your utility knife, carefully shape the insole to fit your last.I urge you to be careful. If you are using a harder material like sole leather cutting can be difficult. My best advice is to take your time and be happy cutting only a little away with each cut.Youll be paring down the rest of your sole pieces in the exact same way as you do here.

Cut out another sole.Then, cut a ring out of the sole about 1/2 from where your sole begins (see the photos).Affix this ring onto the bottom of your insole with superglue or another strong glue.Shoemakers use something called Shoe Goo, which is best for this project but harder to find. It also takes hours to dry and stinks, so super glue is fine!Do not throw away the other pieces of the sole from this step.

Put your insole and last into your upper (with its laces tied). Because your patterns continued onto the bottom of your last, you should have extra fabric that hangs down past the sole.Hold the fabric tightly against the ring of sole you glued on in the previous step.Now, using as thick a string as you can find, stitch through the fabric, through the ring of sole, and back, continuing around the entire shoe, pulling fabric tight as you go along.This can be time consuming and irritating, but one thing you can do to ensure this process goes forward is keep your needle level as you pierce the ring of sole.Expect to have a lot of excess fabric on the other side of your stitching.*Note: One tricky area is the heel of the shoe, which can be difficult to maneuver in. You can always pierce the sole diagonally if you have trouble at this point.**Note: If you have trouble pushing your needle through consider using pliers to pull it through.*Consult the photos if you arent sure what to do!

Once youve completely sewn around the shoe sole you should have some excess fabric. Use your utility knife to shave this fabric off.Your shoe is coming together!

Remember those sole pieces I told you to keep a few steps ago?Glue them into your sole now! You may have some problems putting the outer ring on, so you can trim some material off of the inside to make room for the fabric you sewed on.As with the insole, use your utility knife to trim off excess sole.

If you want a heel or some treads just add another layer of cork or leather!!

Add a final, thinner layer of cork or leather (the normal width is fine for that) to cover all the work you did affixing the sole to the upper.I used 1/8 cork.As always, trim off extra cork that you have.*Note: If you plan on using your shoes outdoor and you didnt use leather you can shellack your shoe to add some integrity to the material.*

Woo! Your shoe is officially done!Put it on and see how it fits. The shoe I made with cork was extra light and flexible, but still pretty classy looking.Now you have to make the other shoe :)You should definitely make a cast of your other foot, but you wont need to draw your patterns again.Take the paper patterns you drew and turn them over. If you made your right shoe first the flipped over patterns will fit a left shoe perfectly and vice versa.Good luck and I hope you enjoyed this homemade shoe Instructable!

Did you make this project? Share it with us!

Please be positive and constructive.

a good tip when working with any kind of alginate, silicone, latex, or any other casting material directly on skin is to put vaseline over any hair or to shave. as someone with hairy toes i view this as an important step! it will also make the mold release from your foot easier. this is what they do in the SFX industry to keep casts from pulling out models eyebrows.

so Id like to make a pair of leather boots, (the reason is- can not find anything that is long enough in the calves to suit my taste. Im a tall woman. I want a riding boot that actually comes up just a little past my knees, seems impossible to find without going to the Hooker Protocol thight boot lol any suggestions?

Hi there! Im a custom shoe & boot maker, and Im assuming youre not interested in paying what it would cost to have custom boots made. (Although, if youre interested, I could possibly point you in the direction of some people who are making the sort of thing youre looking for.) If youre seriously looking for something you can make yourself, out of leather, Id recommend modifying a pair of shoes that fit into boots rather than trying to make boots from scratch. Making a solid pair of footwear that looks good, lasts through more than a few days, and fits properly is extremely complicated. To modify shoes into boots, youd be covering over the existing shoes, in their existing pattern, with leather that then extends up the leg as far as you want it to go – probably best to do a fabric mock-up first, then do it in leather. Also, youll probably have more success with a boot that laces up the front or has a side zipper than with one without an opening. If youre interested, Id be happy to recommend materials or methods for going that route.

Hi SunnyMakesShoes! .. what a great suggestion. If (in 2018) youre still happy to recommend materials or methods for going that route I, for one, sure appreciate that!!

Sure thing! If you want to modify a pair of shoes into a pair of boots, (hey – I should do an instructible on that!) heres the bare bones, text-version:

Put on the shoes. Have a friend help with this. If you want to wear pants under the boots, wear them. Wrap some scrap fabric (old bedsheet, muslin, whatever) around your ankle and leg, and then cover the whole thing – shoe & leg, with masking or duct tape. Keep it close to the body, but dont cinch down. Once your leg is encased, use a sharpie to draw the opening (either a lacing gap up the front, or a place for a side or back zipper, if the shoe is a slip-on). Cut off the fabric and tape down that line (be careful not to cut your pants!) and take off the shoe; peel the tape off the shoe, as well – now you have a pattern! To make the pattern work best, follow the existing seam lines of the shoe.

Id make the new upper out of a thinner leather – something around 4 oz – or, you could cover the shoe parts with a thinner material (leather or fabric), and then bulk up the upper parts by laminating or stitching together a couple of layers.

After youve made your new uppers, rough up the surface of the shoe, and glue the foot parts to the shoe. Trim close to the edge of the sole. if the edge is rough, you can glue in a piece of cord or trim to cover that up.

WOW!! William, I just wanted to send you a Huuuuuge THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart from Down Under! (Australia) The attention to detail, time & effort and good will that has obviously gone into documenting your steps for the benefit of others are greatly appreciated! Onya, mate! ; )

I found myself wondering how useful this was for making your own BOOTS inside wherever you happened to be a resident. Chances were that I would eventually find out by doing.

Thank you for this useful article! Though Im a woman, Ive never owned more than 2 or maybe 3 pairs of shoes at one time because I was born with two feet of different sizes and have to buy 2 pairs of shoes instead of one. Now, I know how to custom make my own and it will be less expensive in the long run than having to shell out money on shoes I never will wear! I will have to experiment to get the kind of shoes I want for formal wear though.

Curious777, I recommend that you look for small shoe manufacturer in your country. They may be able to serve you. I am part of SOM Footwear in Colorado, and we serve different sizes feet on a regular basis, at no additional cost. Hope this is to help you.

I still havent got round to making these but cant wait!

This tutorial could also work for high boots. The main difference would be that whoever followed it would have to make the uppers rise higher on the leg; that could call for lasts that would employ more alginate.

That said, I have plans to make use of this tutorial to construct boots for myself. Once I do, I mean to add the I made it tag.

love your details, thank you so much for sharing! I am making moccasins and medieval moccasins and have been trying to figure out how to do the soles and getting the shape down packed has been a challenge and I am so picky! this last is the missing link I think to perfecting my shoes!! thank you so much! the only thing is, because this is for my business it would be beneficial to have one if it was adjustable to different sizes…

A couple of great ideas here, I will definitely use some!

Just a word of warning: be careful with reusing right foot pattern for the left foot *and the other way around), its totally not uncommon to have different sizes on different feet. But then again, I guess this should be pretty obvious for those familiar with the problem 🙂

The last is actually not needed for pattern creation as you obviously can use your feet (just put some socks on). Ive sewn three pairs of moccasins without ever using one, it depends on the design of your shoes. But it is most useful when sewing uppers to the outsoles.

And to those puzzled by how to remove last, I can suggest to untie the lases. The last is just a cast of your foot after all and youll expect to be able put your feet in and out your shoes 😉

I think the soles in these DIY huaraches kits from Xero Shoes would last longer than other materials – they offer a 5,000 mile warranty on the soles! 🙂

most wear resistant sole material you can find is crepe. 1 square foot panels, in 3 or 4 mm, can be purchased from tandy leather for about $12.

a useful method for making the shoes more waterproof and durable, especially when making them with all fabric, is to take the outer material and prep a mix of equal parts beeswax and linseed oil. paint the mixture onto the material while its hot and molten, let it soak in, and thats it, waterproof. itll stiffen the fabric a bit, and darken the colours some, but you end up with an extremely durable waterproofing that works for cloth and leather.

I havent made shoes from scratch but have worked with shoe materials and anatomic plaster models.

Adhesives: Barge is outstanding. Renia is also outstanding. I actually prefer Renia but it is expensive and a little tricky to purchase unless youre a professional.

Barge is easier (an advert for ShoeGoo popped up on Amazon when I searched for Barge):

Modifying plaster is possible and mostly easy. You can extend/round the toe box by placing the foot mold sole side down. Then staple a 1.5 wide strip of plastic (like 1/8 polypropylene) to the sides of the foot so the strip makes a loop around the front of the toes and makes full contact with the work surface. This plastic is going to serve as a barrier for plaster, if there are gaps the plaster will seep. Then mix about 1/2-3/4 cup of plaster so it is silky smooth. Pour the plaster between the toes and the plastic. Wait. When the plaster has set pry off the staples and plastic. Shape as needed using a surform rasp.

Or modify like in this video around the toe box.

Im planning to do this soon, I am a little confused though on how you removed your foot from the mold without ruining it?